DEPENDENCY THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS: AN ASSESSMENT OF SAMIR AMIN'S VIEWS

Dependency and neo-Marxist theorists have exerted a substantial impact upon development economics. Western development analysts are becoming more aware of the important role that social groups and their political struggles play in the development process. However, controversy over some key issues of world development rages between the neo-Marxist and dependency theorists and neoclassical economists. A chief element in this controversy is a conviction among dependency theorists that development in backward areas is related through the international market to the developed countries and is "blocked" because of its integration into the world capitalist system. Moreover, this integration is hypothesized to lead to the underdevelopment of Third World societies. Dependency theorists contend that because of the introduction of capitalism from outside, Third World economies are weak and national business groups in these countries are unable to launch and sustain industrialization. Furthermore, they argue that relations between developed countries and underdeveloped nations are relations of dependence. The purpose of this paper is to analyze Samir Amin's views on the role of agriculture in the development process of the Third World countries.